URGENT ONLINE ACTION

Petition; New York End High Stakes Testing

We, the undersigned, support higher standards that are reasonably designed, implemented with care, and accompanied by the resources schools need to achieve them. The New York State testing program has undermined the implementation of higher standards, by creating a test-driven environment that does not serve our children well. High stakes testing continues to waste precious taxpayer dollars and student learning time. It is time to say, “no more”.

In May 2010, the New York State Legislature—in an effort to secure federal Race to the Top funds—approved an amendment to Educational Law 3012-c regarding the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) of teachers and principals. The new law states that beginning September 2011, all teachers and principals will receive a number from 0-100 to rate their performance. Part of that number (ranging from 20% to 40%) will be derived from how well students perform on standardized tests. At first glance, using test scores might seem like a reasonable approach to accountability. As designed, however, these regulations carry unintended negative consequences for our schools and students that simply cannot be ignored.

Our paper describes in clear detail why everyone should be concerned about these changes, and we provide recommendations for moving forward in a manner that is best for our students and schools.

You can support the efforts of New York State’s Principals by signing the APPR Position Paper using the form below:

If you Support New York Principals and educators in their efforts to fight sweeping educational changes. Help expand this movement beyond the boundaries of New York State and into every state in the Union. These issues are not relegated to the educators of New York, and we can not allow legislators and bureaucrats to develop the educational policies of our profession.

The work of teachers is crucial in the lives of learners, but the political environment typically fails to acknowledge teachers for their professional commitment and their professional competence.

A Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers expresses a set of beliefs and values and reflects the pledge teachers make to children and learning.

Our hope is that teachers everywhere will take to heart the message in the document. It deserves to be read aloud whenever teachers gather. Read it together. Listen to your colleagues. Let it guide your practice.

There is a time in the historic development of every human institution when it reaches a critical crossroad. Institutions, like people, cannot stand still; they must always change but the changes aren’t always for the better. Human institutions are composed of people. Sometimes the people within the institutions feel powerless to influence the directions of institutional change. They feel they are swept along by a force beyond anyone. Yet people within institutions can determine the directions of change if they examine their convictions and take a principled stand.

That’s what the founders of American democracy understood when they began the Declaration of Independence with “When, in the course of human events,…”
Education in the United States is at such a crossroad. At the same time that schools have rededicated themselves to equal educational opportunity for all, laws and policies are being imposed on schools that limit the ability of diligent teachers to use their professional judgment to further the personal development and welfare of their students.

There are strong pressures today to dehumanize, to depersonalize, to industrialize our schools. In the name of cost effectiveness, of efficiency, of system, of accountability, of minimal competency, of a return to the basics, schools are being turned into sterile, hostile institutions at war with the young people they are intended to serve.

As teachers we hereby declare ourselves to be in opposition to the industrialization of our schools. We pledge ourselves to become advocates on behalf of our students. We make the following declaration of professional conscience: [To Continue Reading the Pledge]

We [Edu 4] are education scholars, students, teachers, and citizens who support worldwide democratic efforts that demand economic and social justice.

Access to decent education is a fundamental human right that the federal and state courts have recognized as essential to the maintenance and flourishing of a democratic society. Therefore, we oppose the current institutional structure which, instead of taxing the wealthy, diverts millions of dollars from education and denies meaningful educational opportunities, especially, to millions of low income and minority students.

Equally, we oppose today’s “educational reforms” that embrace corporate ideologies and advance privatization while undermining public education. Especially, we oppose NCLB’s test-driven education that truncates, rather than expands, the possibilities of teaching and learning.

We extend our support to a vision of building an education system that works for children, for the public, for social justice, and for the future. We thus declare our solidarity with any movement that exercises the right of all citizens of a democratic society to demand economic and social justice.

Save Our School is dedicated to public education as the cornerstone of a democratic society. We are committed to education policy and actions that allow students, teachers, families, and communities to work together to meet the needs of all children.